Hearts of painted Black Part 2: The Forgotten Echo
by Dragons123d
Summary: Prequel to Hearts of painted Black Part 1: From Hunter to Duelist King. Harold Saegusa BlackHeart, finds himself trying to escape the real world and into the game world of Sword Art Online. The only Alpha tester of S.A.O., finds that the game has turned into a death trap and the only way to escape is to beat the final boss on the 100th floor. His ingame name: The Forgotten Echo. AU
1. The Game Turned Trap

"You have got to be kidding me right now." Harold hissed as he watched the red cloak of the game's creator vanish. The fifteen year old player was in shock, the game's creator had made it so no one could escape or log out without causing immediate death. Harold, however, had transported himself completely into Sword Art Online like in the movie ' _Tron_ '. But that also meant that he couldn't escape as well. Though, he was grateful that he was the only Alpha tester in SAO, itself.

Harold quickly pulled his hood over his face as he left the panicking crowd of players, moving so fast that only those who had a skill for spotting could see him. Panicking would only make people do stupid things and that would lead to unnecessary deaths, that only lead to more panic and stupid decisions. Harold had seen this happen when he had entered the Beta phase of SAO, players had panicked and they died because of it. It could have been prevented, but he couldn't alone.

Through the next several months, the death count had jumped to over 2000 players and the first floor boss hadn't been found yet! Harold had seen the death count and hated the creator for it was his fault. Harold moved quietly around the town, his cloak rippling behind him. He had made a name for himself here, it had started as a rumor then his name was being spoken with such reverence that very few remembered his real name. Instead, he was given the name _The Forgotten Echo_ and Harold had felt it fit his personality perfectly. He was also the only player that had rights to create any weapon he wanted because he was the only Alpha tester that SAO had, this gave him a massive edge when it came to battling.

Harold entered the tavern, _Adventurers Beginnings_ , and made his way to an empty table in the back. The NPC waitress took his order and left, people started noticing he was there. Let them notice, he was in no hurry to leave and if they started a fight with him, well… "Is this seat taken?" A feminine voice asked, bringing Harold out of his musings. Shaking his head, Harold studied the girl, she was fourteen and was very beautiful, the armor she was wearing only added to her beauty. He also noticed the reaper on her hip and the dagger on the other side. ' _She must have skills in quick attacks._ ' Harold thought as he looked at her face.

She had light brown hair and shining violet eyes. The girl gave him a small smile before she said "I'm Sophia and you are?" Harold leaned forward so his head was in the light, before answering "I'm the one whose name was forgotten, not many remember my true name and only call me ' _The Forgotten Echo_ '. Pleasure to meet you, Sophia." Sophia only raised her eyebrow before turning her head as his order was brought. Sophia ordered and the waitress left again, Harold eating quietly as she did.

"So, Echo…" Harold looked up and nodded, listening "They say that you're a rogue and a hacker, but if you we're then the security system would have logged you out permainity. So, what are you?" Harold sipped his drink, something akin to a fruit smoothy, before he spoke "Their jealous of my ability to create any weapon I want...They don't realize that I got this ability for being the only Alpha tester in SAO. Besides the fact that all of my levels that I earned previously were added to my levels now. If you're wondering, I'm level 500 nearing 501." Harold watched for Sophia's reaction, watching as she started laughing.

"Oh, that's so funny, the rumors...created because players were jealous of your ability and level." Sophia gasped and Harold chuckled as well. The two talked for several more hours until a drunken idiot started hitting on Sophia, the drunk only had two seconds before he was sent into the far wall, courtesy of Harold's fist. Harold helped Sophia out of the tavern, but not before paying for their meals.

The two parted after Harold sent Sophia a friend request so they could keep in touch. It would be a week later that the two met up again, at the place of the first floor boss. Harold had only entered the room and had found the fighting already going on. Activating his duel disk, Harold pulled **Horde of Gyaos** out and onto his disk. The Atlantean nightmares appeared and charged the boss itself, the players shouting in shock as the beasts flew into battle. The boss was even surprised, leaving it wide open for the Gyaos to attack. The monsters did, Harold knew they would but had been distracted by the scream of Sophia.

One of the boss's minions had Sophia at it's mercy, though it didn't live long enough to enjoy it. Harold activated his kaiju armor as he sped towards the minion, punching it into polygons when he reached it. Tossing her a healing crystal, Harold turn into his kaiju form, _The Heart Eater_ , and charged the boss. The boss didn't stand a chance, Harold tore into the boss, braking the boss's weapon in the process. With one final roar, the first floor boss turned into digital polygons. Harold quickly turned back into his human form and run towards Sophia, pulling her to his chest. Her health was still in the red zone and the healing crystal wasn't working.

"No, No, NO! Not this time, I will not allow you to die, Sophia." Harold snarled as he let his magic flow into Sophia, slowly bringing her health out of the red and into the yellow. The other players were silent as this was going on, some in shock, others in worry. Harold carried Sophia bridal style out of the boss room and towards the teleporter to the second floor, ignoring the shouts that were aimed at him. Sophia was barely awake and murmured "Thank y-y-you, Echo." Harold pulled her closer to his chest, as he vowed to protect Sophia from this trap of death, if he dies in the process then so be it.


	2. Echo's of a Dangerous Past

Harold placed Sophia on the bed, making sure to check her health. It was, thankfully, in the green, but with his luck it was probably a near miss. Pulling the blanket over the sleeping girl, Harold left the bedroom and silently closed the door. Something was off about all of this, yes, he used magic to pull her out of death's grip, but he felt that he had something more than pull her from death's scythe. Moving towards the couch and sitting on it, Harold pulled up a his menu to check the news for anything. At least the creator of the game allowed players to view what was happening on the outside, scrolling through the articles until a title caught his eye. It read; **Sophia Anderson Vanished after being brought to hospital.** Harold felt his heart sink into his stomach, he had not only brought Sophia out of death's grip, he had made her a user, Harold mused on the Tron term before nodded at its placement here, like him. Sophia was completely in the game, like him and had made it so she didn't die by her headgear.

Reading the article, Harold found out more about Sophia. She was fourteen, lived in Japan until she was eleven, her family moved to America. Harold also was surprised that she was a psychic and had gone to his mother's school. "No wonder I had the urge to protect her, I know her..." Harold muttered before he tabbed the article and closed his menu. Moving to the kitchen, Harold grabbed a glass and poured himself a drink of butterbeer. Putting the butterbeer back in the fridge, Harold sipped his drink as he sat back on the couch. He smiled as he said "I know you're there Argo, have a seat."

The information broker stepped out of the shadow she was in and took the chair across from him. "I accidentally pulled Sophia into SAO, she's now like me...she's a user..." Harold told her, Argo pull her hood up and looked at the closest thing she saw as her brother. Argo sighed "I see, but you did save her from the fate of the others." Harold only closed his eyes as he thought it over in his mind, yes, he had saved Sophia from a fate that others had done to themselves but at what cost? Argo spoke "Don't make a promise that you can't keep..." Harold opened his eyes and looked at her, how did she hear his promise? "Unless you know what sacrifices that have to be made to achieve it." Harold knew that his friend spoke the truth, how far was he willing to go to protect Sophia?

"I made a promise, one that my magic will hold me to. If you felt what I had felt then you would know why I made it." Getting off the couch, Harold finished his drink before moving to place it in the sink. Returning to the living room, Harold sighed as he felt like the world was on his shoulders again. He had tried to escape from the real world because of that bloody prophecy, but now it seemed that his world was being turned on its head, again. "Argo, you can stay for the night...I got a room that had two rooms. Sophia's has two beds, if you need me, I'll be in the other room." Argo just nodded and Harold went to his room, hoping that if fate wanted its butt kicked, then he would kick it the moon and back when he found it.

The next morning, Harold was making breakfast when the two girls entered the kitchen. They were talking quietly amongst themselves, Harold waited until they sat at the table before speaking. "Morning, you two, did you sleep well?" Argo nodded, Sophia didn't seem to hear him. Argo then nudged Sophia, making her jump before nodding. Harold then moved over to Sophia and pulled her into a hug, she didn't resist because she started crying into his chest. "Let it all out, Sophia. Just let it all out..." Harold whispered as Sophia let her tears fall. Harold gave Argo a look and the broker went to where the food was cooking, leaving the two alone but in her hearing range. Harold sat down, pulling Sophia with him and he started rubbing her back, whispering words of comfort to the teenager that had nearly died.

Breakfast was a subdued affair, Harold knew that it would take time for Sophia to heal completely and he would help get her through it. The three left the inn, Argo vanishing to do her job. Pulling his hood over his face, he took Sophia's hand and lead her to a clothing shop. Entering the shop, Harold told her to get whatever she needed, he would be waiting near the door when she was done. A half hour later, Sophia had gotten all she needed and Harold payed for it. They then went to a blacksmith he knew from the beta, Lizabeth. On the way though someone tried to grab Sophia, only to be met with the barrel of his type 54 pistol.

"Liz, you open?" Harold called and speak of the devil and he or in this case, she appeared. "Harold? Its you right?" Liz asked, Harold pulled his hood off and was flattened by the female blacksmith. "Its you! I thought that you had been hurt or killed!" Harold chuckled at his friends antics as he pulled both of them up off the floor. "Of course its me, I'm the only person that you know that has emerald green eyes and can summon any weapon I want." Harold smiled before he turned the blacksmith to Sophia. "Liz, this is Sophia. I want you to make her a new set of armor. Like my armor, but like last time I want you to follow your instincts."

Liz's face grew serious and she nodded, then grabbed Sophia as she pulled them to a room so she could measure the teenager. They watched Liz work the metal as she molded it and shaped it into Sophia's armor. "There, finished! Its the best armor next to yours, Harold!" Liz proclaimed and showed it to the two. The armor looked like a blue-eyes white dragon that was turned into armor. The wings had been changed into a skirt that was long in the back but open in front. The tail was a sheath for Sophia's reaper. "I-I-I can't accept this!" Sophia sputtered as she looked at the beautiful armor.

"Sophia, this is your armor. Liz knows about me being being a user, as the term goes and I may have made you one as well when I saved you in the boss room." Sophia gaped at Harold and then looked at Liz then back at him. "You saved me by making me a user...I SHOULD BE DEAD! HOW COULD YOU SAVE ME FROM MY HEADGEAR?!" Harold waited until Sophia finished ranting as he gave Liz his sword for upgrading. "I'm a wizard and my magic did this, all I did was try and save you. So my magic made it so you were brought into the game. I have luck that is so bad that its absurd." He explained when Sophia had stopped ranting.

Liz grinned as she handed Harold his sword "Maxed it out again. Um…" Harold looked at the young blacksmith as she asked "Could you make me your personal blacksmith, please?" Harold smiled before pulling the girl into a hug as he said "Of course, I'll be glad to make you our personal blacksmith." Liz eyes widened as he said our and then she realized that he meant Sophia as well.

The rest of the day was spent farming mobs and helping Sophia with her new armor. Went they got back to his hotel room, he could tell that Sophia was exhausted. While Sophia went to take a bath, Harold pulled his sniper rifle out and started cleaning it. He finished cleaning the gun an hour later, Sophia had joined him in the kitchen until a player attacked them. Harold pushed Sophia out of the swords way and pulled out his lightsaber, activating it and cutting the sword in half.

The player's icon above his head was red, Harold snarled as he charged the Player Killer, his plasma sword cutting at the PKer. The player had some skill as he dodged and weaved Harold's attacks, then the player kicked his pistol out of its holster before pulling out another sword. Harold sensed danger from behind him and fell flat, the PKer giving him a confused look until a bullet went through his forehead. Sophia had picked up his type 54 and shot the player, killing him. Harold deactivated his sword and was at Sophia's side, pulling her to his chest as she felt the full weight of what she had done hit her. Harold held Sophia there in the kitchen all night, comforting her and praying that that was the last of the PKers for the night.


	3. Sinon and Echo The Sniping duo of Beta

The echoing blast of his Halo reach sniper rifle broke the silence, making several flocks of birds take wing and leave. Harold blasted wolf-fang's in the sinkhole they lived in, farming them at the safe distance at the lip of the massive hole in the ground. The wolf-fang was a mob with two health bars, looked like a grey wolf but had bird wings and had a living cobra tail. The beast's upper jaw was made of saber teeth, nasty if your get caught in its jaws. Pulling the empty magazine out of his rifle, Harold dropped it and put another one into it slot then loading the first bullet into the chamber. His ammo stats read 10/10, max bullets on the right and on the left was the bullets he had left in the magazine, no worries about how many magazines he had left. Looking down his scope, Harold pulled his trigger and turned another wolf-fang into polygons. He had left Liz and Sophia back at the inn so he could let off some steam after he was challenged by some over confident player. He had faced the player with nothing but his kaiju armor and had knocked out his opponent the moment the timer his zero, was it his fault that the player was a complete moron?

The main issue was the fact that Kirito had made the situation worse by putting all the blame on himself, calling himself a 'Beater'. This had lead to more people hating Beta testers, he would be having a certain talk with the black swordsman when they meet. "You want some help?" Harold glanced at the person who asked before returning to sniping the wolf-fangs. Sinon was behind him, a bow slung across her back and short sword at her hip. Her aqua hair glinting in the light, Sinon was the best shot with the bow in Aincrad, but her shot with a sniper rifle was beyond insane and into absurd. Summoning Sinon's sniper rifle, the PGM Ultima Ratio Hecate II, next to him, Harold said nothing and took out another mob, all without taking his eye off of his scope. "Thanks, Harold, glad you are still the same like in the beta unlike other players..." Sinon said as she took up her place next to the _The Forgotten Echo_ and started sniping with him.

Harold and Sinon were the most well known players, besides Kirito, from the beta. Sinon with her sniper rifle, Harold with his abilities and Kirito was known for wielding a legendary black sword thus his nickname. The duo finished farming the wolf-fangs and Harold placed his rifle on his back, Sinon holding hers. The two had an unspoken rule, when they saw each other then Harold would add Sinon to his party and vise versa. Sinon accepted his party's request before Harold moved towards the inn, silent the entire way. When they reached the inn, Harold glanced at his HUDs clock. He had been going at the wolf-fangs for nine hours straight, a new personal record for him. Heading inside the inn, Harold paid the innkeeper for several more beds in his room, for the women of course. After paying, Harold lead Sinon to his room, Harold sighed "I'm beat, Sinon, I have a shower with my name on it." Sinon only rolled her eyes at Harold's words, she needed a shower as well but she knew that Harold had been going at it for longer than she did.

Upon entering the room, Harold made his way to his room for his shower. It was a quick one, he got his cloths back on before exiting. He entered the living room and sat on the couch, taking apart his rifle and started the ritual of cleaning it. "So, how was your day?" Liz asked when she entered from the kitchen, sitting next to him and pulling the barrel for her to help clean. "Long, but isn't it always long?" Harold asked rhetorically as he cleaned the scope's lense, making sure to go over it carefully. The two of them finished an hour later and his sniper lay on the table. Sinon entered with Sophia in tow, Harold couldn't believe how his world was so confusing as it only added to his already massive pile of problems. ' _I got 99+ problems and all of them suck._ ' Harold thought as he sat and half listened to the conservation of the three women. Before he knew it, he had fallen asleep but that meant dreams or in his case, nightmares.

But his nightmares consisted of Voldemort trying to get his body back and was trying to find out where he was. He woke up in a sweat, his clothes sticking to his body. Screw Voldemort and his band of KKK rejects. He returned to the shower in his room and let the warm water fall on his body. Why was his life so messed up in some places? Getting dressed again, Harold heard a knock on the front door. Leaving his room, Harold walked up to the door, opened it and found a notice on the door. The second floor boss had been found, about time it was found too. Mostly ready for the boss, Harold went to wake the others, time was of the essence.

The months passed quickly, they were on the 11th floor after many problems. Harold walked down the quiet street of Taft, his cloak billowing in his wake as he moved down the street. The other girls had gone to find a place to rent until the 22nd floor was opened and they could get a permanent place to stay in. He was looking for a red player that went by the name of _Gyminia_ , Argo had told him that this player was even worse than the one that had attacked both Sophia and him on the second floor. This player had pulled up the number of deaths to roughly 300 players, mostly female players. He then heard a muffled cry in the alley he had pasted, turned back to the alley and standing at the entrance, Harold snarled as he saw his target assaulted a young girl with a blue dragon.

"Get away from her, you disgusting pig..." Harold growled and gripped the hilt of his lightsaber tightly. The man turned and faced him, chuckling slightly then stopping when he saw Harold. "Your funeral, kid." Gyminia said before charging, pulling a dagger out. Harold activated his kaiju armor and pulled his weapon out, activating it at the same time. The man didn't stand a chance, his dagger shatter when it made contact with Harold's armor and was headless the next moment, the arc of Harold's lightsaber showing the path it took before fading. "Are you ok, Silica?" Harold asked as he looked at the dragon tamer. Silica looked at him before she said "I-I'm~" She fainted, Harold caught her before she could hurt herself by falling. Harold picked her up and walked away from the alley, taking Silica to where the others were...it had been a long day.


	4. Dreams of the future or the past?

What Harold didn't want to handle was his dreams, but of course, they haunted him anyway. His first dream was...odd to say the least about it, it was when he dueled Pegasus Maximillion to a draw and that won him his deck that he still uses today. The next dream was one that he hazard to guess that was in the future, he and Sophia were married and their kids were playing. The third dream, however, was the weirdest of all. He was in another VRMMO game, but he was flying in the air and was dueling a man in red armor. Harolds lightsaber was blocking the man's blade, but he had a sense that his weapon was able to stop the man's own blade from doing something. "Grr~Your good...Demon." The man grunted as he swung his blade, Harold blocked the sword with a one handed block. 'You're not bad yourself, Salamander. But you've forgot what type of demon I am." Harold hissed before his helmet of his kaiju armor snapped into place and he kicked the Salamander in the chest. The fairy sped back at him only to be met with Harold's fist breaking his nose. "I am a Kaiju Demon and you have only just barely seen the surface of what I can do!" Harold roared and he woke up at the same moment, his back burning for some reason.

Groaning as he got into the shower, Harold put on the cold water to sooth his back though it didn't help much. Turning off the shower and drying himself, Harold got dressed and left the room and headed to the forest. Harold felt like his back was being branded and then cut off, it hurt so much. He made his way to the tree he used for snipping mobs but upon reaching it, he collapsed and screamed. The burning sensation was now on his shoulders and it was like someone had put two suns there. "AURRGH!" Harold roared before he blacked out. As fate would have it, Kirito had run towards Harold's scream and found that the back of Harold's shirt was ripped opened to reveal a pair of black, dragon-like wings. Kirito then opened his menu and sent a message to Asuna, who was still with him in a party even though he had nearly kicked her out of the party they had formed on the first floor. Then Kirito was at Harold's side and was going to put him on his side, when a voice said "I wouldn't do that if I were you."

Kirito grabbed his sword and pointed it at Kayaba, anger burning in his eyes. "Why should I even listen to you?" Kirito snarled at the game's creator, Kayaba looked indifferent at the weapon pointed at his chest and then looked at Harold. "Because if you had, you would have been sent into a tree by Echo. His body is changing and adapting because someone is using my system for their own means, a game called Alfheim Online. Echo is the only one that would experience this because I could only stop so much from that game from changing my world." That's when the two heard "It had to be me, didn't it? You have better get out of my sights, Kayaba, before I get up and rip you head from your shoulders." Kayaba vanished into thin air, leaving a confused Kirito and cursing Harold behind. Asuna then crashed into her partner, sending them into the ground. Harold smirked at the two before pulling himself up off the ground, cursing and swearing under his breath the entire way. The two japanese players could only stare at Harold because he was speaking English and not Japanese, but they could tell he was not a happy camper at the moment.

Harold flexed his new wings, giving them a once over before smiling "They'll go well with my armor, now how do I explain this to Sophia and the others?" Harold pulled off his ruined shirt and activated his kaiju armor. Asuna had a deep blush covering her face and Kirito's mouth was open, Harold had the build of a olympian. Harold noticed the player's faces, then realized why they looked like that and then glared at the two of them. "Oi! Off the ground, you two. It's very rude to stare and I have a bone to pick with you, Kirito." Kirito snapped out of his daze and shuddered, he had heard of _The Forgotten Echo_ 's feats in battle as well as rumors of his wrath. Asuna got off of Kirito and backed away from the two, far enough away to be safe but close enough to help if their was any trouble. Harold's wings folded against his armor as he took a step towards the black swordsman. Grabbing the front of Kirito's shirt, Harold pulled him off the ground before smacking Kirito upside the head. "OUCH! Hey, what was that for!?" Harold glared at Kirito before he said "That was for being a complete idiot on the first floor, that player that was shouting that the beta testers were only hording the best items and said that the beta's already knew that the weapon the boss had beforehand, was because of jealousy! And what do you do? You fell for his bait, hook-line-and-sinker. You then made the whole situation worse by calling yourself a 'Beta Cheater' or 'Beater', then you put the blame that you thought was there when there was none on yourself. You're lucky that Asuna stayed by your side this long, why she stayed is way beyond me but I would have left you for being such a moron!"

Harold then dropped Kirito and turned to leave, stopping when Asuna asked "Will you be able to get back to where ever you are going?" Harold opened and closed his wings before he said "I'm not going to be flying there, if that's what you're asking. I can walk just fine, though thank you for asking about my health, Asuna." He then turned and headed back to the inn, hoping that his friends could help him with his wings. They had no clue about his wings, though they did find that his wings blended with his armor perfectly. Learning to fly, however, was the most embarrassing moment in his life. If the houses hadn't been immortal objects, they would have been flattened in his attempts to learn how to fly. Flying in his kaiju form was not the same as flying with wings in SAO and yet, no matter how many times he crashed into houses, he would get up and try again.

His dreams weren't getting any better either, his friends were worried about him. He would talk in his sleep before abruptly screaming and wake up, the only person that was able to calm him down enough so he could sleep again was Sophia. It got to the point to where she moved her bed into his room and her presence in the room seemed to calm him immensely. Though, Harold would not talk about what he was dreaming until a month and a half later. Sophia had told him that if he wanted to go with the clearers to defeat the boss on this floor, he would have to tell her about his dreams. "Fine, you win..." Harold sighed in defeat before he he told Sophia about his dream of them, the duels he would fight in duel monsters, and the dreams of when he was in a world similar but somehow different to SAO. When he finished, Sophia had a thoughtful look on her face before she pulled Harold into a hug. Sophia held him in her arms, humming a tune that had a calming effect on him before he felt that something was off. Very off, standing abruptly and activating his kaiju armor, Harold ran out of the hotel and into a panicking crowd.

"Whats going on here!?" Harold shouted over the noise and he heard "It's the boss! It's running loose in Taft!" His instincts took over and he launched himself into the air. Hovering in air, Harold heard the roar of an enraged boss and he sped towards it. The boss was Limia like creature and it carried a massive scythe in its hands. How the boss was able to escape from its room was a mystery in and of itself, but Harold was too busy dodging the massive scythe from ending his life. Harold then started shouting " _Kelia Dria Rikos Fiva Girta Belo Laia_!" Golden words surrounded him and then vanished, leaving his hands glowing deep red. Shoving his hands forward towards the boss, Harold let out a battle cry as a beam of energy shot out of his palms and into the boss, emptying two of its health bars. Harold growled as he noticed that his friends and Kirito and Asuna were attacking the snake monster's tail, only taking a quarter of the boss's health away. Raising his hand, Harold hissed out more words, the golden words appeared again before a golden chain flew at the boss. The chain wrapped itself around the boss's chest, arms, and mouth and made it drop its weapon.

Activating his lightsaber, Harold charged the boss with a cry of rage. His weapon slashing and hacking at the boss so fast that all there was a blur of red. The boss's health vanished quickly under the assault before exploding into polygons. Snorting at the congratulation message, Harold landed before he spoke in the language again, healing his fellow players. The others stared at him before Sophia shouted "HOW DID YOU DO THAT?! THE BEAM OF ENERGY AND THE CHAIN!? HOW?!" Harold gave her a blank look before shrugging, he had followed his gut. He didn't know how he did those...wait, Kayaba had mentioned that someone had used this game as a base for another. Alfheim Online, could that have been a skill in that game, using magic? If Harold thought about it, it made more sense to him. Kayaba had done damage control and made it so Harold was the one that got all of the abilities, skills, and whatever else that was from the Alfheim Online. And he was going to kill Kayaba when he found him, oh he was going to die a slow and painful death when Harold got his hands on the game creator.


	5. The Forgotten Echo vs General Eugene

'Well, that was the worst trip ever...' Harold thought as he and Sophia sped through the air, unable to direct where they were going. Before they had turned into a meteorite, Harold and his friends were clearing out the final boss room on the 12th floor. When the boss was defeated, a dark blue-black portal appeared and started sucking Sophia towards it. Harold had pulled Sophia to his chest in an attempt to save her, only to pull himself into the sucking vortex. His last words were to Kirito, he had yelled "Kirito, keep my friends safe!" before closing his wings around both Sophia and himself. Where ever they were, Harold knew that it wasn't SAO anymore. "Hold on, Sophia, just hold on." Harold whispered into his friend's ear before they hit solid ground. Harold slowly opened his wings and noticed a whole bunch of people staring at them. 'Great,' He thought 'More people playing a VRMMO~" He stopped mid-thought as something hit him. How in the world did they escape from SAO in the first place?! "You two alright?" Harold looked up at the armored figure, the helmet looked like some type of pokemon and it had a cloth going over the person's face. Besides that, the rest of the armor looked like something a samurai would wear, discounting the wolverine claw gloves.

"Yes, I'm fine but my friend isn't." The armored figure waved over several of of his fellow's before kneeling to get a better look at Sophia. The armored figures helped carry Sophia to the table that he hadn't seen before and put her on it, lightly. Harold noticed a cat-like woman looking over Sophia, whispering something he couldn't hear even with his kaiju hearing. "I'm Lady Sakuya of the Sylphs, may I inquire who you are?" Harold nodded his head towards the Sylph leader before answering "I am Harold Saegusa BlackHeart, but I am also known as _The Forgotten Echo_ , Lady Sakuya." The cat woman gasped and looked up from Sophia. "You're the _Forgotten Echo_!? Sakuya, he's the most powerful player in all of the VRMMOs!" She squeaked as she bowed her head respectfully toward him. "Uh...I haven't even asked your name and your bowing to me?" He asked confused, making some of the armored people snorted in an attempt to hide their laughter.

Harold then sharply turned, his hearing picking up vibrations of wings. "Something is coming this way and fast." Moving to the edge of the cliff, Harold started speaking and the golden words spun around his body, then the air shimmered and solidified as it showed red armored figures flying in tight formation. "Salamanders!" He heard one of the people shout behind him, he straightened and slashed his hand through the spell. "I'll handle them, they have no idea what they are going to face." Harold turned to the table and pointed at Sophia "Please, heal her. That's all I ask of you." Sakuya nodded and turned to Sophia, raising her hand and started a healing spell. Turning back to the cliff, Harold grinned as he saw the red armor of the Salamanders glinting in the sun.

Opening his wings and launching himself into the air, Harold activated his armor's helmet since the rest of his armor was already on him since the floor 12 boss. The Salamander's were given pause when they saw the red and black armored figure blocking their way. "If you want to get to them, you'll have to go through me first." Harold said and noticed the red armored soldiers talk amongst themselves before someone charged him. Faster than the eye could see, Harold uppercutted the Salamander that charged him, cutting the soldier's health in half. "Enough." Harold heard and watched the Salamanders move out of the way for a dark red haired man. "So, Introductions, I am _The Forgotten Echo_ and you are?" The man gave Harold a once over before answering "General Eugene and what are you? You're not one of those NPC's that battle for someone are you?"

Harold pulled out his lightsaber, activated it and pointed it at Eugene. "No, I'm not and you are interfering with a diplomatic ally talks, so I would ask you leave immediately." The Man looked at the lightsaber before pulling out his own weapon, Demonic Sword Gram, and held it in his hands. "We shall see, when I turn you into shreds." Eugene charged, swinging as he came, only for Harold to block and counter by activating his crossguard. The mini lightsaber blades caught the general off guard, allowing Harold attack and leave a gash on the man's face. Harold held his lightsaber in one hand and held his other out. Eugene charged again, but was cautious in his attacks, blocking and striking as opportunities appeared. Harold noticed this and shifted his combat style, kicking the sword out of the way and slashed is weapon across the Salamanders chest five times before the general blocked the final strike.

"Not bad, but you've wasted your sword skill." Eugene smirked only to turn to shock as Harold grinned. "Oh, that wasn't a sword skill, that was just lots of practice. This is a sword skill." Harold broke away from the crossed swords and his lightsaber began to glow bright blue. Charging at the Salamander, Harold spun around and brought his blade up at an angle, creating a blue wave of energy that cut into the general and lowering his health into the orange. "Lets change it up." Harold grinned and summoned a whip to his hand before whipping it and making electricity crackle up and down its length. "How did you get a legendary weapon!?" Harold heard one of the Salamanders shout, but he ignored the soldier and slashed the whip in an x-shape then slashing his lightsaber in a plus. He then kicked the energy towards Eugene, who couldn't block it as it surrounded him and shrank.

The Salamanders health dropped to a sliver of red before the energy prison vanished. Tossing the whip away and everyone gasped as it turned into digital polygons, Harold sped towards the general and beheaded him in one smooth move. With an explosion, General Eugene turned into a fire ball before it crashed into the ground on the cliff. "Checkmate." Harold said as he deactivated his weapon and placed it on his belt. Harold flew back to the cliff and let his helmet split in half and moved to his shoulders. Walking over to the table, Harold placed his hand on Sophia's before sitting at the table. It was a blur, General Eugene accepted that he couldn't attack and left, but not before telling Harold that when they met again, it would be a battle of legends. Harold had been introduced to Alicia Rue, leader of the Cait Sith's and one of the people that had been in the SAO Beta, but didn't enter the full game because she had gotten sick the week it had been released.

"I still can't believe that you are not a fairy..." Saluya said as she put an hand on his shoulder, giving what comfort she could to the SAO escapee. "I've had dreams about this, the fight with Eugene, this world and the magic. I also learned what I am in this world, I am a Kaiju Demon." Alicia Rue smiled as she said "That's cool, most people are only able to be one of the fairies, but very few are demons in ALO. You are the only one that is, in a sense, the king of all demons." Harold smiled, the Cait Sith's energy was infectious, as he said "Well, it helps that I am _The Forgotten Echo_ and I have the ability to create any weapon I want. Hows Sophia doing?" That brought the happy mood of the two leaders down, Sakuya answered "Sophia is...safe for the moment, but she is in a coma. You were lucky that both of our personal guards know healing, as it is standard to be one. If you need a place to stay, you are welcome to Swilvane." Alicia Rue then added "You can stay at Freelia if you are in need as well." Harold gave the two leaders grateful looks before he pulled Sophia's body into his arms. "If its ok with you, I'll go with Lady Sakuya." Alicia just smiled as she said "That's fine, just make sure to visit me when you can, Harold."


	6. The Fairy King's grave mistake

Harold snarled as the trainer of the sylphs slashed and stabbed at him. Pulling out his lightsaber, Harold made short work of the trainers own weapon before knocking him out cold with his fist. He was angry, really angry, Sophia had been taken from the hospital bed and the only ones that were able to calm him down to a civil level were Sakuya and Alicia Rue. Snorting at the trainer, he carried the man to the medic's before heading to the garden, he had an appointment with Sakuya and Alicia. When he reached the garden, he saw that both leaders had grave looks on their visages. "Is something wrong?" Harold asked Sakuya who sighed "Sophia has been taken by the Fairy King Oberon to be his new queen." This made Harold's blood run cold before he could do anything, Alicia spoke "Harold, we both know that you and Sophia are close, so we've decided to make an alliance with the Salamanders and the Spriggans. We are just waiting for their reply before we attack the world tree." Harold nodded, they had told him that the world tree was guarded by multiple creatures that made it an impossible boss. The perfect defence against enemies that want to attack, but with four of the fairy races allied together then they might stand a chance.

"The Salamanders will want to be in the front lines and the Spriggans have magic that can turn them into real monsters, their illusion magic can be used to make our numbers seem larger than they really are as well. Both races have their own agenda's but all of the races have one common goal, to get to the top of the world tree." Harold said, looking down at the ground as he spoke. There was pinging sound and Alicia grinned "They accepted the alliance. Their sending General Eugene and General Grant with a massive raiding parties!" Harold smiled "We better get to the rallying point so we don't get left behind." The three quickly left to get ready for raiding the world tree.

* * *

Sophia groaned as she got up, her wings glinting in the morning sunlight. ' _Wait...wings?!_ " She sat bolt upright and looked at her wings, her beautiful wings that were exactly the same as the blue-eyes white dragon's. "Beautiful are they not, my queen?" A voice spoke and Sophia spun around, her reaper in her hand and at the man's throat. "Who are you and where am I?" Sophia spat at the man in clothing that gave off a royalty vibe. "My dear, I am Fairy King Oberon and your husband." Oberon said sweetly but Sophia held her weapon all the more tighter. "I am not your queen nor your wife." Sophia said but it only made Oberon smile widen even more. The Fairy King snapped his fingers, making Sophia's sword vanish and turned to a golden gate. "You will soon see me as your husband, in time." He entered a code on a panel and exited the cage she was in, the gate closing behind him.

Sophia watched the man leave before realizing her predicament. She had been captured and put in a cage by a man who called himself the Fairy King. She sat back on the bed she had woken up on and started weeping, until she heard something. " _Harold?_ " Sophia thought and then saw it, a massive multicolored cloud growing larger by the second. The one in the lead was Harold, his kaiju armor glinting in the sun. "Please hurry, Harold..." She murmured.

* * *

"So, you're telling me that Sophia is a Psychic Demon, correct?" Harold asked Sakuya as the massive raiding party flew towards the world tree. "Yes, you and Sophia are the only two demon types that fit into the 'Kaiju Demon' race. The sub races of the Kaiju Demon are Kaiju demons and Psychic demons." Harold looked at her as he said "Not very creative on the name game there." Sakura nodded her head before Alicia pulled up next to them on her dragoon. "Well, if it helps, Kaiju demons are the strongest of all the races in ALO. The sub races are the same but Psychic demons can't change into kaiju and have to go with the next strongest beast, in Sophia's case its a dragon." Harold knew what dragon Alicia was talking about, her armor gave it away. "Her form is a Blue-eyes Ultimate dragon isn't it?" He asked and the two leaders nodded. General Eugene flew up to them and said "Very few players are chosen to be able to be demons, the only other races of demons are Succubus and Morgangol. I don't need to explain them because I won't."

Harold nodded, he knew about the other two demon races already. The massive raiding party landed at the bottom of the world tree and started climbing the stairs. "The flight limit barrier...curse that stupid thing." Harold heard some of the fairies mutter and he agreed with them, he could fly and destroy the flight limiter but he wouldn't let them know that. When the raiding party reached the massive doors, Harold stopped. Turning, he saw two figures battling in the air, one was a Spriggan and the other was a female Sylph. Taking off, Harold sped towards the two and was shocked to find Kirito was fighting Leafa. "K-Kirito? What in the world are you doing here?!" Kirito stopped and stared at Harold before he said "Asuna was taken by the Fairy King! I had to save her!" Harold looked at Leafa before remembering the conversation he had with the sylph a few day previously. "Uh...Kirito, you do know that you're fighting your own sister, right?" Leafa stared at Kirito and back at him before it hit her.

"Kirito!? You~I~Ugh" Was all that Leafa could say before slapping her brother, hard. "OUCH!" Kirito yelped before Harold lead the two back to the raiding party. Harold walked up to the gates and opened them, allowing the raiding to enter. Harold hissed before pointing up, fairy like creatures started appearing everywhere. "Lets get our friends back." Harold said before taking off and charged the swarm. The rest of the raiding party followed suit. Harold cut and slashed his way through the swarm, with each kill however, two more took it's place. Roaring, Harold changed into his kaiju form and crashed into the ever growing swarm. The swarm didn't stand a chance against him, blasting and slashing the swarms numbers down before aiming his blaster cannons at the walls and fired. The swarm shrieked at the change in tactic, trying to stop Harold from destroying their spawners, but it was in vain. Harold shifted his size to a human and changed his left blaster cannon into his duel disk. Pulling out the trap card, **Horde of Gyaos** , Harold put it on his disk and the atlantean monsters appeared and ripped into the wall and swarm.

"Now! Attack them with everything you have!" He heard Kirito shout and the raiding party charged as one. It was too much for the world tree's guardians to handle and it was over. Harold looked at the leaders of the raiding party and said "Find the false king and kill him. Kirito, Leafa, and I have to find some close friends of ours." Grabbing the two, Harold sped towards the top and was enveloped by a bright light. When the bright light faded, Harold saw the bird cage and the people inside of it. Sophia and Asuna were in the cage, Harold pulled out his lightsaber and slashed at the gate, cutting through it like a knife through butter. "Harold...!" Sophia was in his arms and Asuna was in Kirito's. Leafa was left standing where she was, a blush forming on her face. "That King better be ready to die..." Harold said before he was blinded by another light.

"Welcome to my home." Harold snarled at the man who spoke, the Fairy King was smirking at him and Kirito. Kirito was stuck to the floor but Harold got on one knee and forced himself up off the ground. "Yes, very good, very good indeed. But all for not, I'm afraid." Oberon said and pulled out a sword, slashing at Harold's neck. There was a clang and a shriek of metal as Harold twisted the golden sword's blade with his armored hand. "Not good enough, Oberon. You steal my friend and then you force her to be your queen. If that's not enough, you grab Asuna as well for your own pleasure...Well that stops here." Harold growled before ripping the sword out of Oberon's grip. "You may be the admin of ALO, but you are using the security system from SAO and that is where your rule ends. If you've heard of me, then you know what my name is." Oberon fell on his butt as Harold stepped closer to him before he was lifted by his collar. "I am _The Forgotten Echo_ , Oberon, the most powerful and skillful player ever. You are nothing to me and you will die, permanently." Raising his fist, Harold punched the Fairy King's head off his shoulders before dropping the body to the floor. "He..is dead." He said after what felt like a lifetime had passed. That was when Kayaba appeared, "Thank you for stopping this man, Harold." He said "But, I must ask you a favor..."


End file.
